Saving The Future By Reading
by Lonely Island Girl
Summary: Part 1: The Philosiphers / Sorcerer's Stone read by most Weasleys: Molly, Arthur, Bill, Fred, George, Ron   Ginny  Moody, Dumbledore, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Kingsley, Dung, and Snape. Set two weeks before OOTP or Order of the Phoenix.
1. The Boy Who Lived

**The following people are going to read: (alphabetically)**

**Alastor Moody, Albus Dumbledore, Arthur Weasley, Bill Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Molly Weasley, Mundungus Fletcher, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Ron Weasley, Severus Snape, and Sirius Black.**

**You might have noticed that Harry's name is not on there. HE WILL NOT BE IN THE STORY! I wanted to be orrigional, and plus I'm saving him from the scarring of having them all read his thoughts out loud.**

**JKR Owns it ALL! **

**Set two weeks before the start of Order of the Phoenix.**

"Hermione, if that devil cat eats another pair of Extendable Ears, I'm going to drown it!" Fred whispered angrily.

"You most certainly will not! Besides, he isn't eating them, he's keeping us from listening in to the meeting." Hermione huffed.

"I don't care if he's fighting Voldemort himself! We can't do anything without him ruining our plans." George responded heatedly. Ginny rolled her eyes at her brothers' antics.

"I just wish we knew SOMETHING about all that's going on." Ron mumbled.

Suddenly, there was a scuffle so loud that the five didn't need Extendable Ears to hear it. Tonks screamed then there was a crash and soon Mrs. Black was shouting about filth in her house. The kids ducked just in time because Sirius came charging out of the kithcen matching the crazed pictures shouting with his own.

Sirius reentered the kitchen and slammed the door behind him. Within two minutes though, the door opened back up.

"Kids! Come down here." Mrs. Weasley called quietly.

Fred and George apparated and distracted her long enough for the other three to pretend they were coming out of their rooms. Mrs. Weasley herded them in the kitchen and sat down. She signaled them to do the same.

"What do you want?" Ginny asked innocently.

"Well, we got this letter and this book. The book won't let us open it unless you five are reading it with us." Remus explained

"What type of book is it?" Asked Hermione with exctement.

"We don't know. It doesn't have a title." He answered her.

"What does the letter say?" George asked while peering a a paper clutched in Dumbledore's hand.

"It says:

_Dear Order,_

_The book you have is an important look into the past. Reading it and the other's I plan to send will help you learn about how to defeat Voldemort. The following people must read it: _

_Alastor Moody, Albus Dumbledore, Arthur Weasley, Bill Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Molly Weasley, Mundungus Fletcher, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Ron Weasley, Severus Snape, and Sirius Black. The book can not be read unless all sixteen are present. Also, Harry is not to read these books with you. It will be better for him if he doesn't. _

_With Love,_

_PW, Newly Elected Minister of Magic_

"I didn't know they were having elections?" Ron asked.

"The're not. We think this is from the future." Bill explained.

"I wonder who PW is?" Ginny squestioned.

"I can only think of Prat of the Weasleys." Fred answered immediately. Mrs. Weasley started crying and Mr. Weasley patted her arm with a look of anger at their third child.

"No. I don't think so. Anybody in their right mind wouldn't put him in charge of dish towels, much less all of Wizarding Britian." George countered.

"Either way, are we going to read or not?" Hermione asked.

"Okay. Since I have book, I'll read first." Tonks stated.

"**Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone**" Read Tonks.

"Oh wonderful. We get to read about the life of the Potter brat!" Snape sneered.

"Severus, be nice." Dumbledore said quietly.

"**The Boy Who Lived"**

"More like the Stupid Potter who lived to fill the world with arrogance." Snape muttered.

"Snape, if you can't keep your comments to yourself, I'm going to curse you!" Sirius proclaimed.

"**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,**"

"I thought this was about Harry." Sirius proclaimed.

"It is. Those are his uncle and aunt." Hermione answered.

"**of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**"

"You're welcome very much." Fred answered.

"**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense. Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills."**

"What are drills?" Mr. Weasley asked Hermione eagerly.

"These little muggle machines that make holes in things." She answered patiently.

"**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck,"**

"No doubt about that." Ron stated.

"Ronald! Be nice!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.

"**although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere."**

"I think they meant to say 'fatter' not finer." George snickered.

"George!" Mrs. Weasley hissed.

"**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was ****that somebody would discover it."**

"Yeah. They couldn't bear it if someone found out they were actually an escaped whale, giraffe, and pig." Ginny said sarcastically.

"Ginerva!" Mrs. Weasley scolded while Fred and george gave Ginny a hi-five.

"**They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister,"**

"That's terrible! Families should stick together!" Mrs. Weasley said, then broke into sobs again.

"**because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband"**

"James was NOT good-for-nothing!" Sirius growled.

"**were as unDursleyishas it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him."**

"This must be the around Halloween." Remus said sadly. All those that liked the Potters bowed their heads sadly.

"**This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that."**

"A child like what exactly?" Sirius said dangerously.

"**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,"**

The twins frowned.

"**and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair."**

"Bad parenting." Hermione shook her head sadly.

"**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls."**

Ginny rolled her eyes at Dudley's brat-like attitude.

""**Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley"**

'He's encouraging it!" Molly shook her head in a manner similar to Hermione.

"**as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive. It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar — a cat reading a map."**

"Reminds me of Minnie!" Sirius said happily.

"Minnie?" Herione asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He's gotten months of detention at a time for calling her that." Remus laughed fondly.

"**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen — then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive — no, **_**looking **_**at the sign; cats couldn't read maps **_**or **_**signs."**

"They can if they are super awesome like Minnie!" Sirius yelled.

"**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes — the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly . Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-****green cloak! The nerve of him!"**

"I know what you mean, Dursley. Green is such a revolting color. Especially if it has silver nearby." Sirius fake gagged, to the amusement of all the kids.

"**But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt —these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills. Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. **_**He **_**didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime."**

"That's weird." Ron stated. All of the purebloods nodded in agreement.

"**Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery."**

"Fatty." Fred stage-whispered.

"Fred!" (Do I even need to say who shouted it?)

"**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**"**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard —" **" — **yes, their son, Harry —" **

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead."**

"Yes!" George. Mrs. Weasley just sighed in defeat.

"**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking… no, he was being wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure ****his nephew **_**was **_**called Harry."**

"That's just sad." Hermione muttered.

"**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her — if **_**he'd **_**had a sister like that…"**

The kids caught each other's eyes and roared with laughter. The adults just exchanged 'what' looks.

"**but all the same, those people in cloaks… He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door."**

"And whoever it was died." Ginny giggled.

"Great the twins have corrupted our innocent little sister." Bill told Ron.

""**Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice"**

"Flitwick!" The twins shouted.

"**that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!""**

"Well, they might as well throw out the Statute of Secrecy!" Moody growled.

"**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle"**

"Amazing!" Ron laughed.

"Oh no! Not you too!" Bill sighed.

"**and walked off. Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination."**

"Poor Harry!" George fake-sobbed.

"**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw—and it didn't improve his mood — was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes. **"**Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. **

"Deffinitely Minnie." Sirius laughed like a little kid. The people in the room couldn't remember anytime he had been this not-depressed while in the house.

""**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife. **

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!")."**

"I''m just amazed that he can speak." Fred pretended to tear up.

"The grow up so fast!" George cried. Then they both broke into a fit of laughter.

"**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: **

"_**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?" **_

"_**Well, Ted,""**_

"Dad!"Tonks exclaimed happily.

"_**said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight." **_

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…"**

"It took him THAT long? What an idiot." Hermione shook her head.

"**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er — Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you? As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister."**

Mrs. Weasley shook her head sadly again.

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?" **

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…" **

"_**So?**_**" snapped Mrs. Dursley. **

"**Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… **_**her **_**crowd." **

"What's that supposed to mean?" Remus asked angrily. He was closer to Lily than Sirius was, seeing they were both prefects in their fifth and sixth years.

"**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son — he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?" **

"**I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly. **

"**What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?" **

"**Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me.""**

"Better than Dudley! That's the bloodiest stupid name I've ever heard!" Ginny said angrily.

"Ginerva Molly Weasley! I don't want to hear that word come out your mouth ever again!"

""**Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something. Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters?"**

"And I'll take obvious for three hundred, Bob!" Hermione stated. No one got it but Severus, but he didn't show anything but the usual sneer.

"**If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he didn't think he could bear it."**

"I think you and Harry have mutual feelings about it." Ron said.

"Poor Prince Potter. Can't stand being related to a couple of unimportant muggles?" Snape sneered. Ron and Hermione rolled their eyes at him.

"**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters **_**were **_**involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on — he yawned and turned over — it couldn't affect **_**them**_**…How very wrong he was. Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all. A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground."**

"Apparation!" Fred shouted while George drum-rolled on the table.

"**The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome."**

"I actually didn't." Said man laughed.

"**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known." He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The ****nearest street lamp went out with a little pop."**

"Cool!" Fred, George, and Sirius shouted. Kingsley laughed at their antics. Dung was asleep in the corner.

"**He clicked it again — the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it. **

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall.""**

"I told you!" Sirius shouted.

"No one questioned you." Remus replied.

"**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. "How did you know it was me?" she asked. **

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly." "**

"Exactly." Sirius nodded.

"**You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall. **

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here." **

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. **

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no — even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." **

**She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense." "**

"He was great at parties, though." Sirius added.

"**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years." **

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors." **

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really _has _gone, Dumbledore?" **

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "**

"Not anymore." Kingsley muttered.

"**We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

"**A **_**what**_**?" **

"**A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of." **

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who **_**has **_**gone —" **

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: **_**Voldemort**_**."**

A few fliched.

"**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name." "I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, **_**Voldemort**_**, was frightened of." **

"**You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

"**Only because you're too — well —**_**noble **_**to use them." **

"**It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs." "**

George started gagging**.**

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the **_**rumors **_**that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?" It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point ****she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer. **

"**What they're **_**saying**_**," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. "**

All in the room shuddered.

**The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are — are — that they're — **_**dead**_**." **

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. **

"**Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

"I didn't know she cared that much." Sirius stated.

"They were her favorites." Remus replied.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily. **

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. **

All that liked Harry shuddered.

**But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke — and that's why he's gone." **

**Dumbledore nodded glumly. **

"**It's — it's **_**true**_**?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"**We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know." **

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?" **

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why **_**you're here, ****of all places?" **

"**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now." **

"**You don't mean – you **_**can't **_**mean the people who live **_**here**_**?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore — you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!" **

"**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter." **

"Seriously, Dumbledore. A letter?" Sirius asked.

"**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, **

Fred and Georged laughed.

**sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?**

**These people will never understand him! He'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future — there will be books written about Harry — every child in our world will know his name!" **

"**Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?" **

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it. **

"You better not be!" Mrs. Weasley stated.

"**Hagrid's bringing him." **

"**You think it —**_**wise **_— **to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore. **

"**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — what was that?" **

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them. **

Sirius wiped a tear away.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so _wild _— long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?" **

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

"I still never got it back." Sirius muttered.

"**No problems, were there?" **

"**No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

"Aww." The girls cooed.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

"The mark of arrogance." Severus smirked. He was trying to get to Black, but Black was ignoring him.

"**Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall. **

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever." **

"**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?" **

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well — give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with." **

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. **

"**Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog. **

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!" **

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. ****"But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles —" **

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, **

"The doorstep? Really?" Sirius asked dryly.

**took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out. **

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations." **

"Many of us weren't celebrating." Mr. Weasley shook his head sadly.

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir." **

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night. **

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply. **

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four. **

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone."**

"What if he had caught a cold or gotten killed by Death Eaters?" Mrs. Weasley asked in a scolding manner.

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, **

"Aww." The girls cooed again.

**not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley… **

Sirius made an angry sound.

**He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"**

"It's funny. Now they think he's some dilusional delinquet." Ginny said humorlessly.

"Who's next?" Tonks asked.

"I'll go." Remus answered.


	2. The Vanishing Glass

"**The Vanishing Glass,**" Remus read.

"What does that mean? Does he make a glass of water invisible or something." Sirius tried to make the room lighter, but failed miserably.

"**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all."**

"Weird." Ron muttered.

"**The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bonnets"**

All children who had met Dudley snorted in amusement.

" — **but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too."**

All had questioning looks.

"**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

"**Up! Get up! Now!""**

"That's always fun" Fred laughed.

"**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

"**Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

"**Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"**Nearly," said Harry.**

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

**Harry groaned."**

"Oh poor Potter. Having to cook for one day. Let's play him a song on the world's smallest violin." Severus sneered.

""**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

"**Nothing, nothing…"**

**Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider"**

Ron made a noise that sounded like a mix between a scream of terror and a whimper.

"**off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders,"**

"I didn't know Harry was THAT messy!" George laughed.

"**because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept."**

It was as quiet as a cometary in that room. The book slipped from Remus's hand and the moment it hit the table, all hell broke loose.

"WHAT?" Sirius screamed at Dumbledore.

"You left him there and let him sleep in a cupboard?" Remus asked loudly.

"You went on and on about he was safe there and he had to sleep in a cupboard!" Sirius.

Dumbledore didn't answer. The adults rounded on the kids.

"Did one of you know?" Sirius asked them.

"Harry was in a bedroom the summer before second year." George stated.

"Yeah. He had bars on his window though." Ron recalled.

"And you didn't tell anybody?" Remus asked. He was still angry but holding it back.

"Yeah. We told mum." Fred stated.

Sirius's face was as red as a tomato. "And you didn't do anything about it?" he shouted to Molly, who quickly entered the shouting match.

"I thought that Fred, George, and Ron were making up things! It wouldn't have been the first and definitely not the last!" She shouted back, her face as red as her hair.

"Everyone! Sit down!" Dumbledore commanded. All obliged.

"Harry is safest from dark forces there." He told Sirius "And he will continue to stay there until he is seventeen." Sirius huffed and crossed his arms.

_'An unspoiled Potter. I can't wrap my mind around it.' _Severus thought.

"**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike."**

Mr. Weasley was about to ask about all these objects, but Hermione cut him off, "I don't think they're important to the story line, but if you really want to know just remind me later." She said kindly.

"**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody."**

"It better not have been Harry!" Sirius growled murderously.

"**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry,"**

Sirius's scowl deepened.

Severus was reminded it of his own childhood.

"**but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast**."

"Well, there's that." Hermione said.

"**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age."**

"Nope. That's the Scrawny Git gene." George stated.

"**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair,"**

"The Scrawny Git gene!" Fred shouted.

**and bright green eyes.**

_'Lily's eyes' _Severus thought sadly. How sad those emerald green eyes would look if they knew how her son was treated.

"**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose."**

Sirius threw a dark look at Dumbledore.

**The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

"Arrogant Potter. Just like always." Snape sated with venom.

"You know, Severus, if you knew the boy well, you could tell that while he may look like James, he acts just like Lily." Dumbledore said, tormenting Snape in a way.

"**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

"**In the car crash when your parents died," she had said."**

"I swear! These people are going to be the reason I deserved my sentence in Askaban!" Sirius muttered.

"**And don't ask questions."**

**Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys."**

Hermione shook her head. "How are you supposed to learn?" She asked.

"**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

"**Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting."**

Sirius smiled "Potter hair. It's untameable."

"**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place.**

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head.**

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig."**

"I can't tell if that's the Lily or James in him." Sirius mused.

"Probably both. They were really witty." Remus answered.

"**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year.""**

"Seriously, kid. Most kids don't get more than six." Tonks shook her head.

"**Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."**

"**All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley ****turned the table over."**

"They did a horrible job with raising both of them!" Hermione said, exasperated.

"**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?**

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…""**

"I think one of the two new presents should be a brain." Ginny said.

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"**Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**

"**Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair."**

The party poopers shook their head (AKA Mrs. Weasley and Hermione)

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR.**

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him."**"

"Yeah. Like it's Harry's fault Arabella broke her leg." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"**She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned."**

Sirius shuddered.

"**Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

"**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

"**What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?"**

"**On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

"**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

"Probably not going to happen." Remus said quietly.

"**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon."**

"_She always does." _Severus thought.

"**And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

"**I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car…"**

"**That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…""**

"Really? Your worried about a car more than your own nephew?" Hermione squeaked.

"**Dudley began to cry loudly."**

"Baby." George sang.

"**n fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"**Dinky Duddydums,"**

"Bloody hell. I almost feel sorry for the kid." Ron muttered.

"Ronald!" Said the party poopers (I think I may start calling them that)

"**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

"**I… don't… want… him… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother.**

**Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them."**

"Who does that remind you of?" Snape directed at the two remaining Marauders. They both looked away.

"**Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

"**I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas.""**

"He better have not even attempted it!" Sirius threatened.

"**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…"**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen."**

"Accidental magic." Hermione said fondly.

"**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already ****laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses."**

Sirius looked utterly depressed. If there had been a kid like that at Hogwarts, he would have tormented them to death. Oh wait, there was... he thought while looking at Snape.

"**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.**

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls).**

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry.**

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney."**

"Cool!" Ron interjected.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

"…**roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

The twins exchanged evil smirks.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop.**

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

All laughed. "Good one." Sirius snickered.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him.**

All immediately sobered.

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

"**Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

"**This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**.

"Is he seriously comparing his life to a snakes?" Sirius asked. He didn't know about Harry's ability.

"**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked."**

"Snakes can't wink." Hermione informed them.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

Sirius got a bad feeling.

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

"**I get that all the time."**

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

"Bloody Hell! Harry's a parselmouth!" Sirius shouted, with fear.

Ron was dumb founded. "You didn't know?" He asked.

"No one was kind enough to inform me." He said while glaring at Dumbledore.

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

"**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

"**Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?""**

"Harry's always so polite!" Said ginger party-pooper.

"**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor**.

Sirius huffed.

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

'Oh..." Sirius said.

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits."**

All roared with laughter.

"**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigo."**

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

"**But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**."

"I already hate that kid." Sirius stated.

"**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals," "**

"No meals! No wonder he was so skinny..." Mrs. Weasley trailed off.

"**before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food."**

"There's the James in him." Sirius said fondly.

"**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead."**

Ginny gasped sadly.

"**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all."**

Tears filled Ginny and Tonk's eyes.

"**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away,"**

Sirius and Remus looked utterly devastated.

"**but it had never happened;**

**the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too.**

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look."**

"Let's just go ahead and break the Statute of Secrecy!" Mood threw his hands up and shook his head.

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

Tonks had this calculating look about her.

"What's on your mind?" Asked Sirius.

"Well it's like karma." She said.

"What?" Sirius looked at her like she was crazy.

"Well, if I remember right, James bullied people," she threw a look at Severus. "And Harry gets bullied by people. It's karma."

Sirius said nothing.


	3. Letters From No One

Sorry it took so long, but I have almost all of the next few chapters of the book typed up!

**I forgot to put the 'thank yous' and the disclaimer last chapter, so here it is:**

**Thank You:**

**AzelmaandEponine: Thanks!**

**yukikiralacus: I hope the update was quick enough for you! :)**

**Lady Luna Riddle: I know! She irritates me, too. She's NOT Harry's real guardian and she needs to but out.**

**Basketsarah120: Thanks, and I plan on doing all seven.**

**Anniriel: Thanks for adding me to it. I was hoping that it was original. I've never read one like mine without him in it. **

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**And always, a HUGE thanks to my lovely beta overdramatic comedian!**

**I'd like to give a sout out to ALL my readers:**

**Hey to everyone in: **

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**Check out my other story- A Comparison of Characters. In it, I compare characters of the same first or last names nicknames included.**

**I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Seating order: Sirius at the head of the table. Mundungus sitting in the corner.**

**Left Side (from Sirius's end to the other) : Remus, Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron.**

**Right side (from Sirius's end to the other): Albus, Severus, Bill, Arthur, Molly, Fred, and George. **

"Let's just pass the book around." Remus said as he handed it to Sirius.

"**Letters From No One," **

"Hogwarts letter, I hope." Sirius stated.

"**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started"**

It better have only been a few days..." Sirius trailed off.

"**and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches."**

Mrs. Weasley shook her head.

"**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader.**

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting."**

Sirius made a sound like an angry cat.

"**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to"**

"Hogwarts!" The twins shouted.

"**secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

"**They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

"**No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick.""**

"Where did his humor go?" Fred laughed.

"**Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said."**

"Well that was very -sneer- 'brave' of him." Three guesses who said that.

"**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg'. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats,"**

"Because they're evil." Fred said.

"**and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years."**

Remus shuddered at the thought of bad chocolate.

"**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters."**

"I bet that was sexy." Ginny said.

"Ginny!" hermione laughed/ scolded.

"**They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life."**

"Yeah. Everyone hits each other at work." Tonks said sarcastically.

** As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh."**

"Poor Harry." George laughed.

"**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

"**What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

"**Your new school uniform," she said."**

"Yes, and I'm a unicorn." Hermione said sarcastically.

"Wow, Hermione can be funny. Who knew?" Fred laughed.

"**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

"**Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet.""**

"What happened? He was so funny!" George exclaimed.

"**Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**"

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue.**

**He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

"**Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

"**Make Harry get it."**

"**Get the mail, Harry."**

"**Make Dudley get it."**

"**Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and — **_**a letter for Harry**_**.**

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him."**

"Oh Ginny did." Fred said.

"At least two hundred times." George added.

"Shut up!" Said girl turned redder than her hair.

"**Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives"**

Remus looked down sadly.

— **he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**The Cupboard under the Stairs 4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging**_

_**Surrey**_

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink.**

**There was no stamp.**

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion,"**

"Griffindor!" The twins and Sirius shouted

"**an eagle, a badger,"**

"Hufflepuff." Tonks said proudly.

"**and a snake"**

Severus just sneered, as usual.

"**surrounding a large letter **_**H**_**.""**

"Hogwarts!" Ginny shouted.

"**Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke."**

"Haha." Said Fred, sarcastically.

"It was so funny, I forgot to laugh." George added.

"**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

"**Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…"**

"**Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter,**

**which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

"**That's **_**mine**_**!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

"**Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.**

"**P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

"**Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!""**

"Such drama queens..." Ron shook his head.

"**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

"**I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

"_**I **_**want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's **_**mine**_**."**

"**Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

"**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted."**

"Lily's temper." Remus and Sirius said fondly.

"**Let **_**me **_**see it!" demanded Dudley.**

"**OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

"**Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?""**

"Yeah, because we have **nothing **better to do." Ginny said sarcastically.

""**Watching — spying — might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

"**But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want —"**

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

"**No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… Yes, that's best… we won't do anything…"**

"**But —"**

"**I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?""**

'I'm about to stamp him out..." Sirius said murderously.

"**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"**Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. **

**"Who's writing to me?"**

"**No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly.**

"**I have burned it."**

"**It was **_**not **_**a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

"**SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling.**

Ron shuddered.

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

"I hope it was." Sirius said.

"**Er — yes, Harry — about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

"That kid had two bedrooms, and they made Harry sleep in a cupboard." Sirius said angrily.

"**Why?" said Harry.**

"**Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms:"**

Sirius huffed.

"**one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge)"**

All kids burst out laughing again.

"What's so funny?" Bill asked.

"All will be revealed in time." Ron said mysteriously.

"**one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room."**

Ron felt guilty. He complained about his lack of things all the time, and Harry never said anything about it.

"**He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled;"**

Mrs. Weasly bit her tounge against what she wanted to say.

"**here was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched."**

Hermione shook her head sadly.

"**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't **_**want **_**him in there… I **_**need **_**that room… make him get out…"**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it."**

A few nodded in agreement.

"**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof,"**

"Horrible child!" Tonk exclaimed.

"**and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly. When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —'"**

"He should've read it in the hall." Ginny said.

"**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

"**Go to your cupboard — I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley — go — just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door —**

"**AAAAARRRGH!"**

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something **_**alive**_**!**

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face."**

All laughed.

"**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"**I want —" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.**

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day.**

**He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

"**See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't **_**deliver **_**them they'll just give up."**

"**I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon.""**

"At least someone is thinking logically." Remus said.

"**Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me,"**

"We couldn't agree more." Sirius said.

"**said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him. On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom. Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises."**

"He's gone off the deep end." Ginny shook her head.

"**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two-dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

"**Who on earth wants to talk to **_**you **_**this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement."**

"Ginny." Fred and George said at the exact same time.

"**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**

"**No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today —"**

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one —**

"**Out! OUT!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

"**That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag."**

"Idiot." Hermione said quietly.

"**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while.**

"**Shake 'em off… shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer."**

"Poor baby." Sirius said sarcastically.

"**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering…**

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

"'**Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**Room 17**_

_**Railview Hotel**_

_**Cokeworth**_

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

"**I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

"**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her.**

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

"**Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon."**

"Daddy went mad years before that, Dinky Duddydums." Ginny giggled.

"**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared. It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled.**

"**It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a **_**television**_**."**

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it **_**was **_**Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks."**

"Harry wasn't lying when he said that we gave him the best birthday presents." Ron said to Hermione.

"**Still, you weren't eleven every day."**

"Techically, you're eleven three hundred and sixty five days." Hermione said.

"**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

"**Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

"**Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.**

"**I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas.**

**He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up.**

"**Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully."**

"Bast-" Ron started.

"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley interrupted.

"**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all. As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket."**

Sirius growled.

"**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did."**

"Harry's such an optimist!" Fred said sarcastically.

"**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow. Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him"**

"Do it!" the twins exclaimed.

"— **three… two… one…**

**BOOM."**

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in."**

"That's the end of the chapter." Sirius said as he passed the book to Dumbledore.


	4. The Keeper of The Keys

**Hey guys! Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it. **

**I tried to put a little more dialogue in this chapter. So tell me if I got any of the characters ooc ( out of character ) Thanks!**

**I would like to give a big thanks to:**

**jaybird200: Thank you :D**

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**KitKatlover7: Thank you! I appreciate it!**

**(Hope the updat was soon enough for yall ;) )**

**Lady Luna Riddle: I think Snape's face is stuck that way XD. And thanks for adding me to the community. It means a lot.**

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**Seating order: Sirius at the head of the table. Mundungus sitting in the corner. (asleep)**

**Left Side (from Sirius's end to the other) : Remus, Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron.**

**Right side (from Sirius's end to the other): Albus, Severus, Bill, Arthur, Molly, Fred, and George. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any recognizable thing.**

Dumbledore straightened his crescent-shaped glasses and read "**The Keeper of the Keys," **

"I bet you ten galleons it's Hagrid." Sirius said to Remus. Remus rolled his eyes.

"It's obviously Hagrid." Remus retorted.

"**BOOM. **

**They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake.**

"**Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly."**

"I don't think there's any other way that could have been said." Fred inquired.

"**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them."**

"He just gets smarter and smarter." Hermione muttered sarcastically.

"The sold a man like him a gun." Tonks shook her head. All of the purebloods just looked confused.

"What's a gun?" Mr. Weasley asked Hermione.

"It's a muggle weapon that's used to kill people with little pieces of metal." She answered.

"**Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed!"**

Again, there were looks of confusion. Hermione sighed.

"Armed refers to someone having a weapon in there hands." She stated.

**There was a pause. Then —**

**SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor."**

"Bafoon." Snape (guess what) sneered.

Sirius rolled his eyes at his childhood foe.

"**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

"I told you it was Hagrid!" Sirius yelled.

"We **all **knew it was Hagrid." Remus said, exasperated.

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

"**Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…"**

"Good ol' Hagrid" Sirius laughed.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

"**Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger."**

"In my opinion, Hagrid has always been a good judge of character." Hermione said. She got a look from Ron. "Well, human character."

"**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

"**An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

"**Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes." Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise."**

"If Harry had a galleon for everytime he heard it." Ron laughed.

"It's the truth, though." Sirius said.

"Remember when Lily thought that if she drank enough polyjuice potions with her hair in it, Harry would look just like her." Remus laughed.

"Yeah. She made an agreement with James that whoever Harry looked like the most got to name him." Sirius informed the others.

"What would be so bad about James naming Harry?" Tonks asked.

"James wanted to name him Elvendork." It sounded like an explosion. Almost everyone was laughing and even Snape had temporarily lost his sneer.

"Why?" Hermione asked through her hysterics.

"It's unisex." Sirius answered simply, as if that cleared all confusion.

"Imagine it 'Elvendork Potter, the Boy Who Lived'." George laughed.

"It's still not as stupid as Voldemort, though." Sirius said knowledgeabley.

When everyone had calmed down, Dumbledore continued reading.

"**I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

"Like that woud stop Hagrid." Sirius said.

"**Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant;**

**he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

"**Anyway — Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

"Judging by the rest of hagrid's cooking, I might have to question that." hermione laughed.

"**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with **_**Happy Birthday Harry **_**written on it in green icing.**

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

"Isn't he a polite bloke?" George asked.

"**The giant chuckled.**

"**True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

"**What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

"Good ol' Hagrid." Ron repeated Sirius's earlier statement.

"Drinking in fron of children..." Molly muttered.

"**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea.**

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

"Like Hagrid would feed him." Sirius said darkly.

"**The giant chuckled darkly.**

"**Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

"**Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts — yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course.**

"**Er — no," said Harry.**

"And cue Hagrid explosion." Sirius said dramatically.

"**Hagrid looked shocked.**

"**Sorry," Harry said quickly.**

"_**Sorry**_**?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"**

"**All what?" asked Harry.**

"**ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered.**.

"**Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

"**Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?"**

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad."**

"If there anything like the are now, he was right- they wouldn't bad, the were terrible." (three guesses who said that XD)

"Snape, if you don't shut up..." Sirius said. He pulled out his wand and stood up. Snape did the same thing.

"Come on, Black. For being a Griffindor, you sure are a coward." Snape egged on Sirius.

"You know all about cowards, don't ya Snivelly." Sirius shot back. Snape absolutely fumed at his much hated nickname.

"Enough!" Roared Dumbledore. "If you two don't want your wand taken away, I would suggest that you sit down. Both sat.

Dumbledore began reading again while the two enemies glared at each other.

"**I know **_**some **_**things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff."**

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About **_**our **_**world, I mean. **_**Your **_**world. **_**My **_**world. **_**Yer parents' world**_**."**

"**What world?"**

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

"**DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're **_**famous**_**. You're **_**famous**_**."**

"And he loves it too." Snape hissed.

"**What? My — my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

"**Yeh don' know… yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

"**Yeh don' know what yeh **_**are**_**?" he said finally.**

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

"**Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

"**You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

"**Kept **_**what **_**from me?" said Harry eagerly.**

"**STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"**Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry — yer a wizard."**

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

"**I'm a **_**what**_**?" gasped Harry.**

"**A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good 'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to **_**Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. **_**He pulled out the letter and read:**

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**_

_**Dear Mr. Potter,**_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**_

_**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**_

_**Yours sincerely,**_

_**Minerva McGonagall,**_

_**Deputy Headmistress**_

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

"That was nothing similar to what I asked when I got my letter." Hermione laughed.

"What did you ask?" Ron inquired.

"Who in their right mind would name a school Hogwarts." She laughed.

"**Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl**

**a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

"That's talent. I can't even read it right side up." Ron said.

_**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**_

_**Given Harry his letter.**_

_**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**_

_**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**_

_**Hagrid**_

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

"**Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

"**He's not going," he said.**

**Hagrid grunted.**

"**I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said.**

"**A what?" said Harry, interested.**

"**A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

"I love Hagrid's two sided humor." Sirius laughed.

"**We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!"**

"**You **_**knew**_**?" said Harry. "You **_**knew **_**I'm a — a wizard?"**

"**Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "**_**Knew**_**! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was?**

"Lily was not dratted." Remus defended his dead friend and fellow Marauder's wife.

"**Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that — that **_**school **_— **and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak!"**

"Petunia's the freak." Sirius growled.

"**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years."**

"Probably had." Sirius stated.

"**Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as — as —**_**abnormal **_— **and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

"**CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

"**But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

"**I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh — but someone's gotta — yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**

"That would've been terrible." Ron said.

"**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

"**Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it…"**

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows —"**

"**Who?"**

"**Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."**

"**Why not?"**

"**Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went… bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…"**

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

"**Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

"**Nah — can't spell it. All right —**_**Voldemort**_**. "**

"Dang. Probably the only time Hagrid's ever said it." Sirius shook his head sadly.

"**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him — an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway."**

"Pretty good summary." Moody said.

"**Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew."**

"You better believe it!" Sirius said proudly.

"**Head boy"**

"I still think that you were on something for making James head boy." Sirius told Dumbledore.

"**an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before… probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' —"**

Everyone either teared up or looked down sadly.

"**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

"**Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find — anywa…You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then — an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then."**

"He liked killing by then." Sirius answered sadly.

"**But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts"**

Molly started sobbing.

"— **an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before — and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

"That's depressingly scary." Ron said with sadness about his best mate.

"**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

"**Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot…."**

"**Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

"**Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you,**

**probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured"**

"A good beating's about to cure you..." Sirius snarled.

"— **and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion"**

"No on asked for your opinion!" Tonks said angrily.

Sirius was shaking in rage.

"— **asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"**

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat.**

**Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley — I'm warning you — one more word…"**

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

"**That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

"**But what happened to Vol-, sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

"Fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself." Hermione said knowledgeably.

"**Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see… he was gettin' more an' more powerful — why'd ****he go? Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion."**

"I think Hagrid has some seer blood." George laughed.

"Yeah. Proffessor Dumbledore, you should make him the divination teacher next year." Fred added.

"He would do a better job than that woman we have now." Hermione muttered.

"Shame on you, Hermione, insulting teachers like that." Fred shook his finger in a very Mrs. Weasley like manner.

"When I was in the class, she predicted Harry's death everytime he walked through the doors. I don't think Harry's going to die by fire, come back to life, and drown." Hermione said bitterly.

"**Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die."**

"I swear, he could be the Oracle of Delphi, Hogwarts Edition." Fred laughed.

"Do you really want to imagine him in a white dress while prancing around and talking in rhymes?" George asked him.

"I wish there was a spell for that." Sirius muttered looking at Snape.

"**Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back. Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — **_**I **_**dunno what it was, no one does **— **but somethin' about you stumped him, all right." Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, **

_Bet Potter loved that _Snape thought.

**but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake.**

"Nope." Fred laughed.

"**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard?"**

"It doesn't really work like that." Tonks said.

"**If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

"**Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

"**Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it… every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry… chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach… dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back… and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

"**See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

"And he loves every second of it" Snape sneered.

"Professor, we're reading Harry's thoughts. It's obvious he hates the attention." Ginny stated. She was starting to get annoyed about Snape's comments. Harry's never done anything terrible to him.

"**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

"**Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish — spell books and wands and —"**

"**If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled—"**

"**I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

"Well, he's going to die." Tonks said cheerfully.

"**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER —" he thundered, "— INSULT — ALBUS — DUMBLEDORE — IN — FRONT — OF — ME!" He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley — there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers."**

Everyone exploded in laughter. It took about five minutes for everyone to calm down.

Dumbledore smiled. "Let's continue, shall we."

"**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them. Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

"**Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

"Good ol' Hagrid." Ginny repeated Sirius and Ron's earlier words.

"**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

"**Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm — er — not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff — one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job."**

"**Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

"**Oh, well — I was at Hogwarts meself but I — er — got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore."**

Dumbledore smiled.

"**Why were you expelled?"**

"He'll never tell." Sirius laughed.

"We know." Ron and Hermione said in unision.

"Why did he?" Sirius's eyes lit up.

"We'll never tell." Ron said secretively.

"**It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

"**You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' doormice in one o' the pockets."**

"What doesn't Hagrid have in his pockets?" Ron asked as Dumbledore passed the book to Snape.

"Swedish fish." Bill answered mysteriously. People exchanged awkward looks.


	5. Diagon Alley

**I know it's been a few days, but I will rarely get to update more than three times a week.**

**As always, a HUGE thanks to:**

**Anniriel: Thanks! And sorry about the misspell. For some odd reason, my computer spell checks it with a 'u' instead of an 'o'.**

**AzelmaandEponine: Thank you!**

**Lady Luna Riddle: Thanks a million! And I was ecstatic for a chance to throw the 'Elvendork' bit in there. I loved the short prequel that JK Rowling wrote!**

**Fluter: Thank you! I am glad to know my story is different.**

**And also, a giant thank you to my beta and BFF overdramatic comedian.**

**Also, a shout out to my readers in:**

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**Seating order: Sirius at the head of the table. Mundungus sitting in the corner. (asleep)**

**Left Side (from Sirius's end to the other) : Remus, Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron.**

**Right side (from Sirius's end to the other): Albus, Severus, Bill, Arthur, Molly, Fred, and George. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any recognizable thing.**

"**Diagon Alley," **Snape (you'll never guess XD) sneered.

"**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight. **_**It was a dream, **_**he told himself firmly. **_**I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard."**_

"He's such an optimist." Fred interupted sarcastically.

"**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise. **_**And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door**_**, Harry ****thought, his heart sinking. But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream.**

**Tap. Tap. Tap.**

"**All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."**

**He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak. Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.**

"**Don't do that."**

**Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.**

"**Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl —"**

"**Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.**

"**What?"**

"**He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."**

**Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing **_**but **_**pockets — bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags… **

"See. No Swedish Fish." Bill said.

"**finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

"**Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.**

"**Knuts?"**

At this point, Fred and George were histarically laughing. (I really don't have to explain it, do I?)

"**The little bronze ones."**

**Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.**

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.**

"**Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."**

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

"Such an optimist." Fred repeated.

"**Um — Hagrid?"**

"**Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

"**I haven't got any money — and you heard Uncle Vernon last night… he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

"**Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"**

"They did." Sirius stated.

"**But if their house was destroyed —"**

"**They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold — an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

"**Wizards have **_**banks**_**?"**

"Nope. We keep all our money under our matresses." George stated seriously.

"**Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."**

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.**

"_**Goblins**_**?"**

"**Yeah — so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry."**

"I bet that at some point, Harry's going to try to rob Gringotts." Ron stated.

"No he wouldn't. That's crazy." Bill stated.

"Harry's crazy." Ron replied.

"**Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe — 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you — gettin' things from Gringotts — knows he can trust me, see."**

"**Got everythin'? Come on, then." Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

"**How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat.**

"**Flew," said Hagrid.**

"_**Flew**_**?"**

"**Yeah — but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."**

**They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.**

"**Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. "If I was ter — er — speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

"**Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.**

"**Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

"**Spells — enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults.**

**And then yeh gotta find yer way — Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."**

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the **_**Daily Prophet**_**. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.**

"**Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.**

"**There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

"Unfortunately." Sirius stated.

"'**Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

"I bet he doesn't do that any more, does he professor?" Hermione asked.

"No Mrs. Granger, I believe he would rather let Britian 'crash and burn' before asking me for help. Dumbledore replied.

"**But what does a Ministry of Magic **_**do**_**?"**

"Nothing really, except for accept bribes from rich pureblood families and make laws that will help them." Bill said.

"**Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

"**Why?"**

"_**Why? **_**Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone."**

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street.**

**Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"**

"**Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are **_**dragons **_**at Gringotts?"**

"**Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."**

Hermione and Ron exchanged a look and laughed.

Everyone looked at them. "You better get used to hit, it will probably happen a lot." Hermione responded.

"**You'd **_**like **_**one?"**

"**Wanted one ever since I was a kid — here we go."**

**They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.**

**People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.**

"**Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches.**

**Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.**

"**Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."**

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:**

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_**UNIFORM**_

_**First-year students will require:**_

_**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)**_

_**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**_

_**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**_

_**4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)**_

_**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**_

_**COURSE BOOKS**_

_**All students should have a copy of each of the following:**_

_**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)by Miranda Goshawk**_

_**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**_

_**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**_

_**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch**_

_**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**_

_**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**_

_**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander**_

_**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**_

_**OTHER EQUIPMENT**_

_**1 wand**_

_**1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)**_

_**1 set of glass or crystal phials**_

_**1 telescope set**_

_**1 brass scales**_

_**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**_

_**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**_

Hermione, Ron, Fred and George all began to cackle.

"**Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.**

"**If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.**

**Harry had never been to London before. Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.**

"**I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.**

"I don't either." Mr. Weasley mumbled.

"**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up?"**

"Nope. They don't seem like the pranking type of people." Sirius mused.

"**If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he might have thought so; yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.**

"**This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."**

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and Hagrid could see it."**

"You would be correct." Moody said.

"**Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.**

**For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"**

Mrs. Weasley shook her head at the fact of Hagrid drinking in the presence of a child.

"**Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.**

"**Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this — can this be —?"**

**The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.**

"**Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter… what an honor."**

**He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.**

"**Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."**

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming.**

**Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

"**Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."**

"**So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."**

"**Always wanted to shake your hand — I'm all of a flutter."**

"**Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

"**I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You ****bowed to me once in a shop."**

"**He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again — Doris Crockford kept coming back for more."**

Snape stopped reading." I bet the Potter brat just loved that!"

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.**

"**Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."**

Ron and Hermione glared at the book.

"**P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you."**

"**What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"**

"**D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it.**

"He sounds macho." Sirius stated.

"**N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your ****equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.**

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.**

"**Must get on — lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."**

**Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.**

**Hagrid grinned at Harry.**

"**Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh — mind you, he's usually tremblin'."**

"**Is he always that nervous?"**

"**Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience… They say he met vampires in the Black ****Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag — never been the same since. Scared of ****the students, scared of his own subject — now, where's me umbrella?"**

**Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.**

"**Three up… two across…" he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry."**

**He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.**

**The brick he had touched quivered — it wriggled — in the middle, a small hole appeared — it grew wider and wider — a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.**

"**Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."**

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall.**

**The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons — All Sizes — Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver — Self-Stirring — Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.**

"**Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes.**

Hermione smiled. "I felt the same way."

**He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, sixteen Sickles an ounce, they're mad…"**

"That was me." Mrs. Weasley stated.

"**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium — Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand — fastest ever —"**

**There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon…**

"**Gringotts," said Hagrid.**

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, **

"The goblins have style." Sirius laughed.

"**was —**

"**Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:**

_**Enter, stranger, but take heed**_

_**Of what awaits the sin of greed,**_

_**For those who take, but do not earn,**_

_**Must pay most dearly in their turn.**_

_**So if you seek beneath our floors**_

_**A treasure that was never yours,**_

_**Thief, you have been warned, beware**_

_**Of finding more than treasure there.**_

"**Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.**

"Which Harry is." Ron said.

"**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.**

"**Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."**

"**You have his key, sir?"**

"**Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.**

"**Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.**

**The goblin looked at it closely.**

"**That seems to be in order."**

"**An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**.

"Nice Hagrid. That won't get Harry curious at all." Sirius said sarcastically.

"**The goblin read the letter carefully.**

"**Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!**

"Griphook. He's okay, for a goblin." Bill shook his head.

"**Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.**

"**What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.**

"**Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."**

"Hagrid's horrible at hiding things." Sirius shook his head.

"**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in — Hagrid with some difficulty — and were off.**

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible.**

**The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.**

**Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late**

— **they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.**

"**I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"**

"Well actually..." Hermione began, but Ron cut her off.

"No one cares, Hermione." She hit his arm.

"Ow." He muttered.

"**Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."**

**He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.**

**Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.**

Mundungus, who had woken up, whistled greedily.

"**All yours," smiled Hagrid.**

**All Harry's — it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London. Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag.**

"**The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

"Even if the carts could go slower, none of the goblins would." Bill stated.

"**One speed only," said Griphook.**

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, **

"Trust me, you do not want to know what's at the bottom." Bill stated, glad to know more than the others for one chapter.

"**but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck. **

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.**

"**Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long ****fingers and it simply melted away.**

"**If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in ****there," said Griphook.**

"**How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.**

"**About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin."**

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least **— **but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor."**

"That's sad." Sirius said.

"**Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask."**

"Yeah he knew that Hagrid would eventually tell him." Ron laughed.

"Hagrid practically did tell us." Hermione stated.

"I still can't believe it. All that time, and it was on a chocolate frog card." Ron muttered.

"We have no idea what you're talking about." Bill said.

"**Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.**

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life — more money than even Dudley had ever had.**

"**Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron?"**

"Hagrid!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, exasperated.

"**I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.**

"**Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here — another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face"**

"Malfoy." Ron growled.

"**was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.**

"**Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?"**

"**Yes," said Harry.**

"**My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy.**

"The wand has to choose the wizard, dumb arse." Ron said.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.

"**He had a bored, drawling voice."**

"Well, you can't argue with that." Hermione stated.

**"Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."**

Ron started laughing hysterically.

"I think he's went off the deep end." Tonks said, looking at him.

"**Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

"**Have **_**you **_**got your own broom?" the boy went on.**

"**No," said Harry.**

"**Play Quidditch at all?"**

"**No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be."**

Sirius shook his head sadly. James would have a conniption. A Potter not knowing what Quidditch is.

"_**I **_**do — Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. ****Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

"**No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

"**Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been — imagine being in Hufflepuff,"**

"There is nothing wrong with Hufflepuff!" Tonks defended.

**I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"**

"I would leave if I got into Slytherin. I would jump out of the window and never show my face to the world again." Sirius stated. 

"**Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

"**I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.**

"**That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

"**Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

"No he isn't." Ron said angrily.

"**He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second.**

"I am too." Sirius said.

"**Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of **_**savage **_— **lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

"**I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

"_**Do **_**you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

"**They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

"**Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. **

"Well, isn't he sensitive to other's feelings?" Tonks asked.

"**But they were **_**our **_**kind, weren't they?"**

"It doesn't matter." Ron said, looking at Hermione.

"**They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

"**I really don't think they should let the other sort in,"**

Hermione huffed angrily.

"**do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"**

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

"**Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

"Unfortunately." Ron muttered.

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts).**

"**What's up?" said Hagrid.**

"**Nothing," Harry lied.**

**They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

"**Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know — not knowin' about Quidditch!"**

"**Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's.**

"— **and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in —"**

"**Yer not **_**from **_**a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh **_**were **_— **he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles"**

"Hermione." Fred, George, and Ron said at the same time.

"— **look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"**

"**So what **_**is **_**Quidditch?"**

"**It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like — like soccer in the Muggle world — everyone follows Quidditch — played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls — sorta hard ter explain the rules."**

"**And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

"**School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but —"**

"I take offense to that!" Tonks shouted.

"**I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," said Harry gloomily.**

"**Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," **

"Straight up!" Tonks said, a little calmer.

"**said Hagrid darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin."**

"Not exactly true." Sirius said, thinking of Peter.

"**You-Know-Who was one."**

"**Vol-, sorry —You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

"**Years an' years ago," said Hagrid."**

"They went to school together." Ron said.

"**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from **_**Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More) **_**by Professor Vindictus Viridian.**

"**I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."**

"**I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."**

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop).**

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.**

"**Just yer wand left — A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."**

**Harry felt himself go red.**

"**You don't have to —"**

"**I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at"**

"Neville." Ron fake-coughed.

"— **an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."**

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl,"**

"Hedwig!" The twins shouted.

"**fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.**

"**Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now — only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."**

**A magic wand… this was what Harry had been really looking forward to.**

**The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.**

**A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled.**

**The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

"**Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.**

**An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.**

"**Hello," said Harry awkwardly.**

"**Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."**

**Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy."**

"Very true." Sirius shuddered.

"**Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more ****power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it — it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."**

**Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.**

"**And that's where…"**

**Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.**

"**I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands… well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…"**

**He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid.**

"**Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again… Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"**

"**It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

"**Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. ****Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

"**Er — yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

"**But you don't **_**use **_**them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.**

"**Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

"**Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now — Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

"**Er — well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

"**Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."**

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.**

"**That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."**

**Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.**

"**Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try —"**

**Harry tried — but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.**

"**No, no — here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

**Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become."**

"Wow. My wand was the second one I tried." Hermione stated.

"**Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere — I wonder, now — yes, why not — unusual combination — holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."**

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers.**

**He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls.**

**Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious…"**

"What's curious?" Ron asked.

**He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious… curious…"**

"**Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"**

**Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.**

"**I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother — why, its brother gave you that scar."**

"Twin cores." Dumbledore stated.

"**Harry swallowed.**

"**Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember… I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter… ****After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things — terrible, yes, but great."**

"It sounds like he admire Voldemort." Remus stated, disgustedly.

"**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.**

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder."**

"It's so weird, going back into the muggle world after Diagon Alley." Hermione said

"**Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.**

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.**

"**You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. He'd just had the best birthday of his life — and yet — he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

"**Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last.**

"And Potter thinks of himself as special, too." Snape sneered.

Sirius lmost cursed Snape, but a look from Dumbledore stopped him.

"**All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander… but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry — I mean, the night my parents died."Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile.**

"**Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts — I did — still do, 'smatter of fact."Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope.**

"**Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September — King's Cross — it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me…. See yeh soon, Harry."The train pulled out of the station. **

"Wait, Hagrid didn't tell Harry how to get on the platform." Kingsley said, talking for the first time in this chapter.

**Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

"Here, Weasley." Snape sneered as he shove the book into Bill's hands.


	6. Journey From Platform 9 and 3 Quarters

It's been a week! I'm sorry it took so long, there have been a lot of storms in my area and no internet connection.

**As always, a huge thanks to:**

**Anniriel: Thanks for the advice! I hope this chapter is better!**

**AzelmaandEponine: Thank you!**

**Lady Luna Riddle: Yeah, that's how I imagine Snape would be. He's going through denial. He doesn't want Harry to be such a good person. **

**Also, a shout out to my readers in:**

**the US, the UK, Poland, Canada, Australia, Germany, Czech Revar, France, Sweden, Philippine, Austria, Brazil, India, Russia, Norway, Italy, Argentina, Denmark, Colombia, Pakistan, Venezuela, Lebanon, Turkey, Ireland, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Malaysia, Netherlands, Indonesia, Uruguay, Croatia, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Finland, Mexico, Finland, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia.**

**New ones: Slovakia, Chile, Romania, Taiwan, Israel, Brunei Darussalam (I've never heard of that one before), and Greece. **

**I've had 4,000 hits for this story, but only 19 reviews. So, please review!**

**Seating order: Sirius at the head of the table. Mundungus sitting in the corner. (asleep)**

**Left Side (from Sirius's end to the other) : Remus, Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron.**

**Right side (from Sirius's end to the other): Albus, Severus, Bill, Arthur, Molly, Fred, and George. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any recognizable thing.**

"**The Journey From Platform 9 and 3 quarters." **Bill read.

"Yes! This is where the best characters in the entire series enter." Fred said.

"**Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun."**

"And it was a blast when you were locked in the cupboard?" Ginny asked sarcastically.

Sirius growled at the reminder of Harry's horrible home life.

"**True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room,"**

The twins snickered.

"**while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him — in fact, they didn't speak to him at all."**

"That would get depressing." Tonks stated.

"**Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while."**

Tonks laughed at the simularity of their statements.

"**Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in **_**A History of Magic**_**."**

"He actually read that?" Ron said in disbelief. "I though you were the only one who opened your books before the first day of class." He said to Hermione.

"I'm not Ronald. I'm sure he was just curious about the wizarding world. That's what got me started reading them. And also the fear that I would be the worst witch in my year didn't keep me from memorizing everything in them." She replied.

"**His school books were very interesting."**

"He's went" Fred began.

"Over to" George continued.

"The dark side." They finished together.

"**He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice."**

"I hate when they do that." Mrs. Weasley said, thinking about how bad Errol had been at it before he got old.

"**Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first."**

"I used to do that." Sirius reminisced.

"I still do." Hermione added.

"**On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day,"**

"A procrastinator, like always." Hermione sighed.

"A what?" Ron asked.

"It means when someone waits until the last minute to do something." She explained.

"**so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room."**

Sirius began to chuckle darkly.

"**Er — Uncle Vernon?" **

**Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening. **

"**Er — I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to — to go to Hogwarts." **

**Uncle Vernon grunted again. "**

"Wow. He's fluent in troll." Ginny said in mock awe.

"**Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?" **

**Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes. **

"**Thank you." **

**He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke. **

"**Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?" **

"Haha." Remus said sarcastically.

"**Harry didn't say anything. **

"**Where is this school, anyway?" **

"Scotland." Professor Dumbledore informed them.

"**I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket. **

"**I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read. **

**His aunt and uncle stared. **

_Petunia would know how to get on the platform. She went there with Lily three times. _Snape thought.

"**Platform what?" **

"**Nine and three-quarters." **

"**Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters." **

"**It's on my ticket." **

"**Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, **

Remus began laughing uncontrollably, and soon Sirius joined him.

"**the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother." **

"**Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly. **

"**Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings." **

"Aww, but pig tails are so in right now!" George said.

"**Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning"**

"Bloody hell." Ron said. Ginny and the twins started laughing while Mrs. Weasley scolded him.

"**and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. **

**He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes — "**

"You would be amazed how many people do." Moody shook his head with disgust.

"**he'd change on the train. He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. **

**Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to Harry, and they had set off. **

**They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him. "**

"Why is he being so nice?" Tonks asked suspiciously.

"**Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face. **

"They better not do what I think they're going to do!" Hermione threatened.

"**Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine — platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?" **

**He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all. **

"**Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing. **

"They're horrible people." Bill said before resuming reading.

**H"arry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. He'd have to ask someone. He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters."**

"At least he has some sense." Snape said with a smirk.

"**The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose."**

"I bet that the same thing happens to the gaurds a lot." Kingsley said, speaking for the first time in a while. He was more thoughtful that talkative and was trying to remember every detail.

"**Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but the guard said there wasn't one."**

"What if there was one and he got on the wrong train?" Ginny asked.

"**In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl. **

**Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten."**

"I hope he didn't." Tonks said.

"**At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying. **

"— **packed with Muggles, of course —" **

"Yay!" Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny cheered.

"Who's that?" Sirius asked.

"Mum." Ginny replied.

"**Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair."**

"Oh, so he notices Percy the Prat but not me?" Ginny asked.

"**Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him — and they had an **_**owl**_**."**

"Yeah we have an owl. Is that why he became your friend, Ron, because you had an owl?" George asked, sarcastically.

"I hope not. Errol was usually half dead anyways." Ron shuddered.

"**Heart hammering, Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying."**

"Tsk Tsk, Harry." Fred began.

"Eavesdropping on people's conversations." George continued.

"**Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother. **

"Really, Mum?" Bill asked.

"I was in a rush." Mrs. Weasley replied.

"**Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go…"**

Ginny looked down in embarrasment.

"**You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first." **

Fred and George only held their tongue because of Molly's devastated look.

**What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. **

**Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it — but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished. **

"If only he never reappeared." Fred muttered.

"**Fred, you next," the plump woman said. **

"**I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you **_**tell **_**I'm George?"**

**Sorry, George, dear." **

"**Only joking, I am Fred," **

Sirius began chuckling while Mr. Weasley sighed.

"Don't you think you boys have over used that joke?" He asked them.

"**said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone — but how had he done it? Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there — and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere. **

**There was nothing else for it.**

"**Excuse me," **

"So polite." Mrs. Weasley complimented while Fred and George made gagging noises.

**Harry said to the plump woman. **

"**Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."**

**She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose. **

At that point, Fred, George, Ginny, Sirus, Remus, Tonks, and Hermione were all laughing hysterically while everyone else chuckled except for Snape, Mrs. Weasley, and Ron.

"That's bloody brilliant!" Fred choked out.

"I honestly don't think it's funny." Mrs. Weasley said.

"**Yes," said Harry. "The thing is — the thing is, I don't know how to —" **

"**How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded. **

"**Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron." **

"**Er — okay," said Harry. **

**He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid. **

"It felt pretty solid too." Ron muttered in rememberance of his second year, ignoring the looks he got at that comment.

**He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble**

"He's a ball of sunshine, isn't he?" George asked everyone sarcastically.

"Yes. I only wish I could be as cheerful as him." Fred replied in a dreamy like manner.

**leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run — the barrier was coming nearer and nearer — he wouldn't be able to stop — the cart was out of control — he was a foot away — he closed his eyes ready for the crash — It didn't come… he kept on running… **

"It would be funny if he ran into someone." Ginny said.

**he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. **

"Yay!" Fred and George whooped.

**A sign overhead said **_**Hogwarts' Express, eleven o'clock**_**. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words **_**Platform Nine and Three-Quarters **_**on it, He had done it. **

"I'm so proud!" Fred said tearfully.

"He's so amazing." George added.

"**Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats"**

Sirius made noises of disgust.

**of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. **

**The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again." **

"Neville!" All the children still in Hogwarts exclaimed.

"**Oh, **_**Neville**_**," he heard the old woman sigh. **

**A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd. **

"Lee!" Fred and George shouted.

"**Give us a look, Lee, go on." **

**The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg. **

Ron shuddered.

**Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot. **

"I hate when that happens." Ginny said, while wincing.

"**Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins **

"It wasn't a prank was it?" Hermione asked the twins.

"No. I felt bad because he was all alone so I decided to offer him some help with his trunk." George explained, mock offended.

**he'd followed through the barrier. **

"**Yes, please," Harry panted. **

"**Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!" **

**With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment. **

"**Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes. **

"It shocked us, to say the least." Fred told the others in rememberance.

"**What's that?"**

"Tactlessness just runs in the family, doesn't it." Hermione said while looking at all the male Weasleys.

**said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar. **

"**Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you —?" **

"**He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry. **

"This is why I don't talk to you. I have no idea what you are talking about." Hermione told the twins.

"And you don't approve of us pranking people." Fred added.

"School isn't about homework and tests." George told her.

"So you're saying that school isn't about school." Hermione asked them.

"Exactly." They answered together.

"**What?" said Harry. **

"_**Harry Potter**_**." chorused the twins. **

"**Oh, him," said Harry. **

At that point, almost everyone laughed, and even Snape smirked.

"I completely forgot about that." Fred laughed.

"**I mean, yes, I am." **

**The two boys gawked at him,**

"Tactless." Hermione said again.

"**and Harry felt himself turning red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door. **

"**Fred? George? Are you there?" **

"**Coming, Mom." **

**With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train. **

**Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family**

"Tut tut, Harry, eavesdropping on us!" George mocked.

"**on the platform and hear what they were saying. **

**Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief. **

"**Ron, you've got something on your nose." **

Almost everyone began to snicker.

**The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose. **

"_**Mom**_— **geroff" He wriggled free. **

"**Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins. **

The snickering began again.

"**Shut up," said Ron. **

"**Where's Percy?" **

"Hopefully far away." Fred and George muttered.

"**said their mother. **

"**He's coming now." **

**The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a red and gold badge on his chest with the letter **_**P**_

"For prat." The twins said together.

"**on it. **

"**Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves —" **

"**Oh, are you a **_**prefect**_**, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea." **

A few people looked surprised. Percy not bragging about being a prfect. The idea seemed ridiculous.

"**Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once —" **

"**Or twice —" **

"**A minute —" **

"**All summer —"**

Sirius laughed at the twin's antics.

"**Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect. **

Fred and George looked devastated. "Why didn't we ever think of calling him that?" Fred asked George.

"**How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins. **

"**Because he's a **_**prefect**_**," **

"Being a prfect isn't that wonderful." Bill said. "You spend hours patrolling around. It's really tiring."

**said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there." **

**She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins. **

"**Now, you two — this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've — you've blown up a toilet or —"**

"Never give a prankster ideas." Remus told Molly.

"I didn't do it intentionally." She defended.

"**Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." **

"We have now, though." Fred revealed with a smile.

"**Great idea though, thanks, Mum." **

"**It's **_**not funny**_**. And look after Ron." **

"**Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us." **

"Not really. I still got in danger." Ron whispered to Hermione.

"**Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it. **

"**Hey, Mum, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" **

"And here it goes." Hermione said with a laugh. She knew how much Harry hated his fame.

**Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking. **

"**You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?" **

"**Who?" **

"_**Harry Potter**_**!" **

**Harry heard the little girl's voice. **

"**Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mum, oh please…"**

Ginny blushed blood red.

"**You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?" **

"**Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there — like lightning." **

"**Poor **_**dear **_— **no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform." **

Fred and George made more gagging noises.

"**Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?" **

"Don't ask him that, that's terrible!" Hermione said.

**Their mother suddenly became very stern. **

"**I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school." **

"**All right, keep your hair on." **

Sirius, who was not very fond of Mrs. Weasley, snickered at that comment.

**A whistle sounded. **

"**Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of ****the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry. **

"**Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." **

"**We'll send you a Hogwarts' toilet seat." **

"I never got it." Ginny told the twins.

"We gave it to someone with a greater need." Fred replied.

"_**George!**_"

"**Only joking, Mum." **

"No, we weren't." Fred contradicted.

**The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved. **

**Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to — but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind. **

"Yeah. Hogwarts is a lot better, I assume." Ginny stated.

**The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in. **

"**Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full." **

"I detect a little white lie." Sirus said to everyone.

**Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose. **

Fred and George snickered at that.

"**Hey, Ron." **

**The twins were back. **

"**Listen, we're going down the middle of the train — Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula**

Ron shuddered.

**down there." **

"**Right," mumbled Ron. **

"**Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. **

"The most awesome people in the world." George continued from his earlier statement.

**And this is Ron, **

"No, really." Sirius asked the twins, jokingly. It was nice to meet other pranksters.

**our brother. **

"The only time we've ever claimed him." Fred said with mock pride.

"You're red haired with blue eyes. There's no way you could claim your not." Hermione told them.

**See you later, then." **

"**Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them. **

"**Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out. **

"Am I the only one with any tact?" Ginny asked her brothers.

**Harry nodded. **

"**Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes,"**

"Haha." George said dryly.

**said Ron. "And have you really got — you know…" **

**He pointed at Harry's forehead. **

**Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared. **

"Wow Ron. Really?" Hermione asked.

"**So that's where You-Know-Who —?"**

"**Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it." **

"**Nothing?" said Ron eagerly. **

"Ronald Weasley! Didn't I specifically say not to ask him that?" Mrs. Weasley asked angrily.

"Technically, you told Fred and George not to ask. You said nothing to me." Ron told her.

"**Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else." **

"**Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again. **

"**Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him. **

"Really?" Ginny asked. She didn't find the youngest boy that interesting.

"**Er — Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mum's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."**

Mrs. Weasley shook her head sadly.

"**So you must know loads of magic already." **

**The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about. **

"Malfoy would have a panic attack if he knew that." Ron laughed.

"**I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?" **

"**Horrible — well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers." **

"**Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. **

The others shot looks at Ron.

"**I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy**

Fred and George made gagging noises and caused Bill to huff angrily.

"**and Charlie was captain of Quidditch."**

"At least somebody has their priorities in order." George commented.

"**Now Percy's a prefect." **

"Yeah, but he's also a prat." Fred told ron.

"**Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat." **

"It seems like everything the prat touches comes out evil." Ron said.

"Ronald!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.

**Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.**

"**His name's Scabbers and he's useless,"**

"No doubt about that." Sirius said with venom.

"**he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead." **

**Ron's ears went pink. **

**He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window. **

**Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up."**

"Ron!" Hermione said.

"He didn't say anything about abuse. He just told me that he knew what it felt like. And I was happy because I knew he wouldn't look down on me because we weren't rich." Ron told the others.

"… **and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort —" **

**Ron gasped. **

"**What?" said Harry. **

"_**You said You-Know-Who's name!**_" **said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people —" **

"Why wouldn't he say it?" Sirius asked Ron.

"**I'm not trying to be **_**brave **_**or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn… I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class." **

"No. We have Crabbe and Goyle in our year. He would have to try to fail." Hermione told the others.

"**You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough." **

All the kids in the room looked pointedly at Hermione.

"**While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?" **

"I miss the cart." Sirius said dreamily.

"**Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor. He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars"**

"Muggle candy." Hermione told the others before they could ask.

"**as he could carry **— **but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans,"**

George shuddered at the memory of all the horrible flavored ones.

"**Drooble's Best Blowing Gum,"**

Bill and Ginny smiled at their favorite candy.

"**Chocolate Frogs,"**

Remus, Sirius, Hermione and Fred smiled at their favorite.

"**Pumpkin Pasties,"**

Tonks, Dumbledore, and Kinsgley noted their favorite. This was also Severus's favorite, but he refused to let anyone know.

"**Cauldron Cakes,"**

Ron, George, and Mr. Weasley looked hungry.

"**Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts."**

"That's a lot to spend on candy." Tonks told the others.

**Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat. **

"**Hungry, are you?" **

"Like you have room to talk." Hermione laughed.

"**Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty. **

**Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef…" **

"That's my favorite." George said. "Now I know why I had chicken."

"**Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on —" **

"The quickest way to Ron's friendship is through his stomach." Hermione said knowledgeably.

"**You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us." **

"**Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten). **

"I wish I had known this." George muttered.

"**What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs.**

"**They're not **_**really **_**frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him. **

"**No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa." **

"I've got about three of her." Ginny said. "You can have one."

"Thanks." Ron responded.

"**What?" **

"**Oh, of course, you wouldn't know — Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy." **

"Ptolemy is a very rare one."Remus said.

"**Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses,"**

"Dumbledore." Fred said with certainty.

"**had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and moustache."**

**Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore. **

"**So **_**this **_**is Dumbledore!" said Harry. **

"So it is." Dumbledore laughed.

"**Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa — thanks —" **

**Harry turned over his card and read: **

_**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE **_

_**CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS **_

_**Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times,"**_

"Not anymore, though." Dumbledore said.

"_**Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling."**_

"That last part was random." Ginny said.

**Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared. **

"**He's gone!" **

"**Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. **

"**He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her… do you want it? You can start collecting." **

**Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped. "Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos." **

"They don't move at all?" Mr. Weasley said with excitement. "Weird!"

"**Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "**_**Weird!" **_

Everyone laughed at that.

"**Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. He finally tore his eyes away from the Druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. **

"I have all those." Ginny said.

"**You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. "When they say every flavor, they **_**mean **_**every flavor — you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. George reckons he had a bogey-flavoured one once." **

"It was terrible." George said while shuddering.

**Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner. **

"**Bleaaargh — see? Sprouts." **

"Not that bad." Ron admitted

**They had a gret time eating the Every Flavor Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper. **

"Nothing too gross." George said.

**The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills. **

**There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful. **

"It's Neville." Ginny said.

"**Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?" **

**When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!" **

"**He'll turn up," said Harry. **

"So nice." Mrs. Weasley complimented.

"**Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…" He left. **

"**Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk." **

"I thinka dead toad would have been better than Scabbers." Remus stated.

"**The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap."**

"That's all it ever did, besides trying to kill Harry." Ron told the others. This surprised no one as everyone already knew the story of Scabbers/ Pettigrew.

"**He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference,"**

"We could only hope." Sirius said.

"**said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…" **

**He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end. **

"**Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway —" **

**He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes. **

"Hermione!" Ginny stated.

"**Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, **

"I do not!" Hermione cried.

"Yeah, you do." Fred and George siad together.

"**lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth."**

Hermione huffed at her description.

"**We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand. **

"**Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." **

**She sat down. Ron looked taken aback. **

"I was. She's very... intimidating." Ron said while looking at Hermione.

"**Er — all right." **

**He cleared his throat. **

"**Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."**

George laughed so hard, that he could barely breathe.

"I can't believe you fell for that!" He choked out.

**He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep. **

"**Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? **

"Obviously." Fred said, laughing at Hermione.

She made a face, but didn't have a retort.

"**I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course ****books by heart,"**

At that point, Bill had to stop talking to breathe.

"Wow, not even Remus memorized his course books." Sirius said, amazed.

"**of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" **

**She said all this very fast. **

**Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either. **

"I hadn't even read the course books." Ron said/

"**I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered. **

"**Harry Potter," said Harry. **

"**Are you really?" said Hermione. **

"Yeah, he really is." Tonks laughed. Hermione was thoroughly embarrassed.

"**I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in **_**Modern Magical History **_**and **_**The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts **_**and **_**Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century**_**." **

"Bloody hell." Bill stated.

"**Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed. **

"**Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione.**

"Actually, thinking back on it, I wouldn't." Hermione told them.

**"Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best;"**

"It is." Sirius answered.

**I hear Dumbledore himself was in it,"**

"I was." Dumbledore told Hermione.

"**but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon." **

**And she left, taking the toadless boy with her. **

"**Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. **

"Ron!" Hermione yelled then hit him in the back of the head.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" He appologized.

"**He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell — George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud." **

"Really! I didn't." George said sarcastically.

"**What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry. **

"**Gryffindor," said Ron. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not."**

"If I wasn't in Gryffindor, I would have probably been in Hufflepuff." Ron said.

**I don't suppose Ravenclaw **_**would **_**be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin." **

"I know the feeling." Sirius said.

"**That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in." **

"**Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed. **

"**You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. **.

"It didn't, but I appreciated the attempt." Ron said.

"**So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?" **

**Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school. **

"**Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. **

"Really Ron? My entire career is 'something.' When I was in 5th year, I decided I wanted to do 'something' when I grew up?" Bill asked.

"**Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the **_**Daily Prophet**_**, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles — someone tried to rob a high security vault." **

"I still don't believe that they got away." Bill said.

"**Harry stared. **

"**Really? What happened to them?" **

"**Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it." **

"Now they don't, though, they say the people are crazy." Ginny said.

**Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying. **

"Exactly. Fear of the ame increases fear of the thing." Dumbledore said.

"**What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked. **

"**Er — I don't know any." Harry confessed.**

"**What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world —" And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the ****money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time. **

**Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. **

"He made me loose my appetite." Ron shuddered.

"**He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.**

"**Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?" **

"**Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards. **

"They are." Ron confirmed.

"**Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." **

"He's got to be my relative. The Black family has a knack for picking stupid names." Sirius said.

"**Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him."**

"And then Ron died of being blinded by his paleness." Ginny laughed.

"**Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." **

"At least we're not Death Eaters." Ginny said.

"**He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." **

**He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it."**

"Go Harry!" Sirius cheered.

"**I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly. **

**Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks. **

"**I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. **.

"Why that little..." Sirius said.

"**They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you." **

"Yeah. We wouldn't want Harry being a decent person, now would we." Tonks said.

"**Both Harry and Ron stood up. **

"**Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.**

"**Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered. **

"**Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron."**

"But, Ron and Harry are a lot smarter than Crabbe and Goyle." Hermione said.

"**But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some." Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron — Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell. **

**Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle** "

"He was defending the food." Remus laughed.

"**Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. **

**Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in. **

"**What **_**has **_**been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail. **

"**I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No — I don't believe it — he's gone back to sleep." **

**And so he had. **

Sirius shook his head disgustingly.

"**You've met Malfoy before?" **

**Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley. **

"**I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side ****after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."**

"Exactly." Bill said.

**He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?" **

"I just wanted to be you're friend, Ron. You're so rude!" Hermione said.

"**You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"**

"Dang. I'm glad they didn't. They would have broke our record." Fred said, relieved.

"**Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?" **

"**All right — I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. **

"I was horrible!" Hermione cried. "I had no people skills what-so-ever!"

"**And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"**

Fred and George began to snicker again.

**Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. **

**He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them. **

"It's because you're part giant." George laughed.

**A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." **

**Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. **

"The most nerve wrecking time for first years, the sortings." Sirius laughed.

"**They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. **

**The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?" **

"Hagrid!" Ginny said.

"**Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. **

"**C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" **

**Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.**

"I loved the boat ride." Tonks remembered.

"**Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." **

**There was a loud "Oooooh!" **

"I miss the castle." Bill said.

"**The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. **

"**No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione. **

"The four best people in our year!" Ron said, in an attempt to lessen Hermione's anger.

"**Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then — FORWARD!" **

**And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. **

"**Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the ****little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. **

Everyone sighed in rememberance of their boat ride as a first year.

"**Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them. **

"That toad gets lost at least three times a day." Hermione said.

"**Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. **

**They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. **

"**Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" **

Fred and George snickered.

"**Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door."**

"Here you go, dad." Bill said as he passed the book to Mr. Weasley.


End file.
